Friday, January 31, 2014

From the ArmChair Squid:“The idea is simple: on the last Friday of each month, post about the best book you've finished over the past month while visiting other bloggers doing the same. In this way, we'll all have the opportunity to share our thoughts with other enthusiastic readers.”

Sometimes I get a hold of a certain type of book that, while
interesting, makes me skim words, sentences, and then paragraphs. Ultimately, plowing
through the wordiness frustrates me to the point of skipping whole pages. In
the category of Skippy books, I place the following:

The Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) – George RR
Martin. At some point, do we really need to know what they are eating at every
meal? I want the tale to advance and not hang up in too many storylines. Plus,
his penchant for killing off characters is wearing thin. If the initial hook is
in the characters, I tend to lose interest if they are killed off. I mean, why
invest my time and enjoyment in (insert name here) if he is going to die later?

The Wheel of Time – Robert Jordan. All started so well, so
interesting. But, after a point, I groaned, “Just get on with it. Don’t bring in
more characters, darn it. No more inane conversations. Move along. Gaaaah! Not
another plot twist.”

I bought every WOT book and would again. At least he and co-author
Brandon Sanderson, who picked up the reins after Mr. Jordan passed away, made the
first five and the last two books amazing. The ones in-between, not so much. And I never liked the book covers. Too amateurish, IMHO. Though not as bad as anime, a style of art that I intensely dislike. Hate actually.But Martin’s books...eh, I don’t know if I care enough at this point to continue the series.

Recently I read One Second After by Willaim Forstchen and it
quickly turned into a skipper. The reviews were wall-to-wall 5-stars but I
didn’t buy it until the price dropped to $2.99. Glad I didn’t pay the full
price now. It turned into a version of Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank complete with
a death of a secondary character by the same disease. Too much “Bob” dialogue,
the method of delivering info the author wants you to know via Y.T.M. aka
Yapping Too Much. No strong females. All are wimpy and whinny. Bleh.Mr. Frank's book is the one to read but it is dated and reading it makes me very uncomfortable.

Monday, January 20, 2014

Love is in the Air: It's a celebration of that little thing called love.

Of Oak and Dragons.Lee, truly inexperienced, is making conversation with Ruen, a dragon in human form. To add to her misery, her preternatural rapier keeps injecting itself into the embarrassing conversation.“Truly, I do not understand what emotions are so I cannot say what I am experiencing,” Ruen said.I remained silent. The rapier rumbled but quieted into vague mutters. A ghost of a smile played on Ruen’s mouth. “The actual, physical mechanics are basic. The function to continue the species, procreation that is, seems unduly enjoyed by humans. Is it better than kissing?” My cheeks were on fire and I had to turn away trying to find anything that needed my attention. “Uh, I wouldn’t know.”“What, what? You’ve never done the dirty deed?” “You have?” I shot back.He shrugged and stepped next to me. Before I could stop, he took my hand again, holding it between his two large warm hands. “No.” His eyes came up to mine. “Never. I have not experienced that particular human act.” He pursed his lips. “Why haven’t you?”I tried to pull my hand away but instead he enfolded me in his arms. I felt his cheek in my hair, rubbing, his breath saturating the crown of my hair to the roots.“I haven’t found the right person to share it with, I suppose,” I said into his chest. Oh, the smell, of oak leaves and dragon. “And I didn’t want it to be a casual incident. I wanted it to be special, with someone who I loved.” “You wanted your first time to be special or you wanted it with someone special?” “Both,” I said with a cut in my voice. “What movie are you imitating now? Love Potion No. 9 or Jerry Maguire?”He whispered, “I saw The Little Mermaid.” I pushed him away. He was laughing in earnest now.Overheated minks, the rapier growled in my ear. He was still laughing as he followed me to the patio.

*****

What Works – Online Marketing Symposium:you tell us about a marketing idea that you've used and what worked or didn't work.

Thursday, January 9, 2014

I'm not getting all smoochy. Not me. Evah.Nope. It's a blogfest, courtesy of Charity Bradford. UnicornBell, our writer's critique site, is sponsoring a meet n' greet blogfest on January 20 -24th.It is the new feature at the blog I share with four other writers and established authors. Blogfests throughout the year as a way to increase your 'presence' in the blogosphere and create a platform.The details for our first blogfest of 2014, in honor of the quickly approaching Valentine's day:

It's a celebration of that little thing called love. Be it steamy or sweet, puppy, kitty, teen, aggravating, first kiss or final goodbye, let your scene tug at our heartstrings.

Share your lovey dovey moment on January 20th and then visit and comment on the other blogs on the list.

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

IWSG—Writers, coming together on the first Wednesday of every month for a virtual pat on the back.

Your mind is elsewhere. In another city, country, continent, planet. And the phone rings.

The sound jars you out of the scene and back to what a normal person describes as reality.

Or in other words, the sane world of living. Not writing.

It is a writer’s occupational hazard, those stumbles and stutters that we experience when battling a master swordsman, having a Eureka! moment during a pivotal scene, or ‘seeing’ the castle ruins for the first time.

I file these interruptions into two categories: Biggies and Aggravations.

Biggies are new grandsons and major home renovations. Not much you can do about diapers and painting a wall.

Aggravations are meals, the spouse saying “come and help me a second”, unexpected guests who stay all day, and bad colds. The last one kicked my characters to the curb for the last ten days.

So how do you cope? How do you open the door back into your world? Or can you go back to the same place at all?

* * * *

Insecure Writers Support Group: The Final Frontier.

These are the voyages of the Ninja Captain, AJC. His continuing mission, to explore all new writing venues, to seek out new authors and new blogs.